Removed from ration card without consent, woman finally wins battle

The State Food Commission has directed the taluk supply officer, Kozhikode, to include the name of a Thalakkulathur native in the ration card issued in her husband’s address, from which she and her two children were excluded without her knowledge two years ago.

The woman and her two children were separated from her husband, and the divorce proceedings were on when her husband demanded, in a petition to the taluk supply officer, to transfer the ownership of the card to his name. He had pointed out that she and her children were staying in a different address. The petition was considered, and the changes were made in February 2023.

The woman submitted her complaint against this on the website of the Civil Supplies Corporation and submitted it to the District Supply Officer as well as the Deputy Collector, but to no avail. She then approached then Chairman of the State Food Commission Vasantham Puthussery. Upon investigation, he detected the issue with the taluk supply officer’s decision.

By then, Ginu Zakaria Oommen became Chairman of the Commission. The complainant approached him through advocate I.V. Shravan in 2024 at an adalat, responding to which the Commission came up with the above order.

The eldest female in a family is the owner of the ration card. Only in the absence of such a female does the ownership go to a man. In this case, the transfer of ownership was possible only by removing the names of all three females, one adult and two children.

In its order, the Commission noted that living separately from the husband as part of divorce proceedings did not amount to change of address, and hence the action by the taluk supply officer was uncalled for.

The Commission has directed the Civil Supplies Commissioner to take departmental action against the officials who were at fault in this case. The complainant has also been advised to approach the State Women’s Commission against the alleged derogatory remarks made by the Rationing Inspector in his file on her, as it did not come under the purview of the State Food Commission.